Playing to Win

In 1920, a young entrepreneur named Fred “Skinny” O’Connor formed a semi-professional basketball team in a hard scrabble part of Milwaukee. They called themselves "The Brightspots." They leveraged the burgeoning middle class’ interest in basketball and created an enterprise that thrived
for more than 40 years; first as a basketball team then as a sporting goods retailer on Milwaukee’s Wisconsin Avenue.

By 1922, word had spread around the upper Midwest about The Brightspots. They traveled from town-to-town playing the best players in the area and usually beating them by a wide margin. As athletes they were legendary and as entertainers and basketball evangelists they sold a brand of excitement that dened the early years of basketball.

As a family business, “Skinny” was the master salesman and raconteur who booked the events, sold the tickets, coached, played and counted the money. Our Grandfather, Rod and his brother Mike also pitched in to make the enterprise work by stirring up local publicity, promotions and scouting talent.

Today, Tim and John O’Connor, Grandsons of the original Brightspots, have created a new team and a new enterprise that will barnstorm the candy and snack world with brash ideas, an evangelist’s zeal and an eye on the next big thing.

Tim O’Connor is a classically trained consumer brand executive with more than 20 years of broad experience in key consumer segments including Food, Snacks, Beverages and Toys.

Tim has managed more than $100 Million in fruit snack brands at General Mills and created and launched the $500 Million line of Tropicana Pure Premium Plus orange juice featuring calcium, antioxidants and fiber. Originally a marketing and brand professional, Tim has increasingly added Sales, Operations, Executive and Board-level responsibilities during his career. His most recent assignment was CEO of BRIO Corporation, makers of BRIO branded wooden toys.

Tim earned his MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

John is Tim's brother and a Principal at Hewitt Associates in their consulting practice and manages the Milwaukee office. He has been with the firm for nearly 20 years and in that time has worked in Hewitt’s Lincolnshire, Chicago, and London offices.

John has has consulted with a variety of clients in numerous industries and geographic locations. His clients included Gordon Food Service, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Best Buy Company, Accenture, Newell Rubbermaid, Eli Lilly, Miller Brewing Company, and The Boeing Company.

John earned a joint MBA from Warwick University in Coventry England and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and a guest lecturer at several Universities.

Our Design Team

Our design team brings over 25 years experience to the Brightspot team.
Meet Cathy Brautigam, yes that's her as Beaker from The Muppet Show; Chuck Brunelli aka Web-Chuck; and Chuck Nevsimal, aka Word-Chuck.